the journal of an architect

Fettuccine spinaci e pollo

I cooked this a few weeks ago when Mike and Libby came over one evening, but haven’t had chance to write it up until now. Since I’ve been trying a few dishes from Asia recently, I decided to switch location and move to Italy. I’m a sucker for any pasta dish, and I think Mike probably gets enough Asian food at home and at his parent’s house – he’s Vietnamese.

It was pretty successful but perhaps a little bland, I suspect I should have added more herbs.

Ingredients for 4 :

300 g leaf spinach (frozen or fresh)

4 freerange chicken breasts

8 chopped fresh tomatoes or two cans of chopped tomatoes

4 cloves of garlic, finly chopped

3 medium sized onions, finely chopped

red wine (can be of lesser quality, mainly used for the fond)

olive oil

pepper, rosemary, basil, oregano, salt

500g fettuccine

creme fraiche

Cube the chicken and heat up a generous amount of olive oil in a solid non-stick or cast-iron pan on maximum heat until it smokes and add the chicken, frying it until it has a tasty golden brown colur. Turn down the heat to medium and add the onions and the garlic, stirring continuously. When the onions are golden and soft, add a generous slosh of red wine and stir furiously to generate a nice fond.

Now add the spinach and the chopped tomatoes and a tablespoon each of oregano, rosemary (fresh or rubbed) and basil. Let the sauce simmer for ca 45 on low heat and add salt , pepper to taste and finish with a generous helping of creme fraiche.